Calum wrote:surely this is an apt-get issue than a slack packs issue, but void, feel free to move it to the slack section! i read all the new posts in your forums anyway (more or less).
thanks for the answers guys, but i am a bit hesitant to try upgrading my kernel using this thing right enough.
I say it's somewhat of a Slackware issue because only Slackware uses "slapt-get" and only Slackware uses "/etc/slapt-getrc" but you are right in general that the issue (which really isn't an issue) may be common on all apt installations. Apt doesn't work exactly the same on any distribution but when it comes down to it I don't really care where you post. I just like giving you a hard time. :) How you install those EXCLUDED packages may also be different in Slack but I don't know that to be true. In Debian or Red Hat I would use the "apt-get install kernel-xxx-xxx" method to install a specific kernel version. This will install the new kernel along side an existing kernel but not make it the default kernel. Not sure how the "slapt-get" utility would do it.
I am glad that the kernel is excluded from automatic upgrade as it is the heart of your distribution and should something go wrong or should something depend on the older kernel (proprietary modules such as nVidia) then you aren't hosed by doing a "dist-upgrade". By installing it manually you can take the special care that may be needed on the upgrade depending on your system.